Improvement in hatchways



2 Sheets-Sheetl.

Patented Aug. 27,1878.

J. M. VAN OSDEL Hatchway.

NFETERS. PNOTO-LIT'HOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D C- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. M. VAN OSDEL'. Hatchway.

010,207,572. Patented Aug. 22, 18 78.

N. PETERS, FHOTO-LITNOGRAPHER,.WASHINGTON. 0. 0

UNI'I'ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

JOHN M. VAN OSDEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

lM PROVEM ENT IN HAT CHWAYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 207,572, dated August27, 1878 application filed July 27, 1878.

CASE 0.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoHN M. VAN OSDEL, of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Self-Closing Hatchways for Elevators; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and toletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

In the construction of self-closinghatchways for elevators it is oftendesirable to adapt the opening and closing mechanism with specialreference to the use of such hatchways in business-houses so that theelevator-car can be loaded and unloaded from opposite sides. To obtainthis advantage I have arranged and adapted the operating mechanism so astoleave a clear passage-way across the platform of the car. Thearrangement of primary levers, operating with long sweeping movements,in combination with a car bearing-way of peculiar construction, foropening and closing the doors, of two hinged leaves each, and providedwith leading-rolls, to start and lead out the flap-leaves, issubstantially the same as in two separate patents, Gases A and B,granted to me, bearing even date herewith; but in these the advantagesof my present invention cannot be obtained by reason of the arrangementof the operating devices above the hatehway.

The invention herein consists in the arrangement and adaptation of themechanism for operation beneath the doors, leaving the way clear aboveand across the platform of the car at the hatchway.

In this new arrangement of the operating mechanism the doors, of twosections of two hinged leaves each, are opened by upwardoperatingpush-bars, connected w i t;h and controlled by the movements oftheprimaryle vers, whereas in my said patents the doors arelifted orpulled up from above to open them. This difference involves in thispatent a new method of opening the doors, while maintaining theimportant advantages of requiring little force to open them and withoutnoise.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical section of aportion of the shaftway of an elevator, with one set of doors in theposition as closed, the operating devices connected therewith, and apartof the elevaton car A in the position it occupies below the doors,as at U, to open them in'asoending, or to allow the doors to close inits descent, while the elevator A (shown above the hatchway as at W) isin the position it occupies after closing the doors in its ascent, or inthe position it occupies to commence opening the doors in its descent;Fig. 2, a perspective, looking from below, the doors covering one-halfof the shaft way, and showing the doors partly opened by the action ofthe upwardpush bar; Fig. 3, a detail section enlarged, showing onesection of the doors folded open by thepush-bar, which lies between thefolded leaves; Fig. 4:, a detail of the leading-roll of the flap-leaf ofthe doors and of the supporting-rolls thereof enlarged; Fig. 5, adetail, enlarged, of apart of the bearing-way of the elevator-car,showing the point of impact of the horizontal plane T upon the roll endf of the lower primary lever to open the doors, the form of the curvesto give a variable movement in opening, and, by dotted lines, thebearing of said lever upon the vertical plane of said bearing-way tohold said doors open; and Fig. 6, a detail of the screwcoupling lock-nutconnection for the several parts, for making their proper adjustments todetermine the opening and closing of the doors and the equal bearing ofthe primary levers upon the elevator bearing-way.

In the drawings one of the hatchways is shown, the guide-posts for theelevator being omitted, and in'which I represents the post to which theprimary levers are secured and through slots in which they operate.

So far as the construction, arrangement, and operation of the devicesherein are identical with my said patents, it is deemed unnecessary tospecifically describe such parts in this patent.

While the connections of the primary levers are such as to operate themtoward and from each other in long sweeping movements, and to balanceeach other, as in my said patents, there is, however, van importantdifference arising from the connection of the secondary lever with theower primary lever in the pres- '*of the upper primary lever by thesecondary lever K, whereby the weight of the upper primary leverconstantly pulls upon the lower primary lever and is balanced thereby,whereas in my said patents the rod J alternately pushes and pulls. Thisconnection causes both said primary levers to move simultaneously inopposite directions, to effect, through the intervention of themovements of the elevator. bearing-way, the proper movements of thedoors. a

The devices connecting the doors with the primary levers are suspendedby hangers II from the under side of the floor-timbers, so as to bringsuch devices beneath the hatchway, while the levers are mounted uponbrackets H outside of post I. A two-armed secondary lever, N, is mountedupon the central double boxed bracket H and from one of its arms, 0, aconnecting-rod, M, leads to a secondary lever, 'L, Fig. 1, on theaxis-pin of the lower primary lever. This gives the connection of theprimary levers with the counterpoise S, the carrying-arm S of which,being fixed to the axis of the central two-branched lever N, iscontrolled in its movements by the primary levers. I

For the purposeof bringing the connected pushing-bars Z Z, by which thedoors are opened, near the centers of the length of said doors,rock-shafts 3 (shown more clearly in Fig. 2) are suspended in hangers HH to the floor-timbers, or in boxes attached to the vertical parts ofthe hatohway; and these rockshafts are connected, by elbow-levers c c,to these push-bars, and by secondary levers a a, Fig. 1,- to rods 1 P,one of which is united to the secondary lever e and the other to asimilar lever, I), fixed to the axis-pin of the counterpoise. This givesthe connection of the rock-shafts with the push-bars, the counterpoiseS, and with the primary levers through the connecting-rod M and thesecondary lever e, and thereby operate the rock-shafts y y and push-barsin unison with the movements of said primary levers. The rock-shaftscarry at one end an elbow-arm, c, which connects by pivot to the lowerend of the push-bar Z, the upper end of which terminates in an eye, tomake the connection with the axis-pin of the folding hinge of the doors,as shown in Fig. 2.

It will be noticed that the positions of the rock-shafts g are outsideof a vertical line drawn through the hinges of the outside leaves of thedoors, as s own in Fig. 3,'in order that the center of gra v of thedoors, when in vertical positions, will be inside of the line of theshafts, so that the weight of the doors will cause the rock-shafts topartially revolve in the closiu g movements of the doors. The positionof the arms 0 0 when the doors are opened requires the elbow-bend, sothat the upper ends of said arms 0 may rest vertically against theframe-work, as shown in Fig. 3.

The push-bars Z are curved at d at their lower ends,'to allow them, whenthe doors are pushed open, to pass over the angle of the frame-work andupward between the folded doors.

As in my patent, Case A, referred to, the primary levers are operated bya bearing-way arranged vertically near one corner of the elevator, andhaving a long vertical plane, T, with end curves T of quarter-ellipsesin form, and terminating in horizontal planes T at the top and bottom ofthe elevator. In' the drawings, A represents a portion of theelevator-ear, and in which U, Fig. 1, designates the top horizontalplane T of the bearing-way in position to act upon the roll f of thelever G, to commence opening thedoors in the upward movement of the.elevator, and which completes such movement when it reaches the dottedlines at V, the end of the primary lever having passed through thecurved dotted line G", giving a long sweep and an extended movement ofthe lever in opening the doors. This action of the lower primary leverreleases theupper primary lever of the weight of the lower one, andallows the former to descend by its own. gravity to the dotted positionshown at X. This movement of the lower primary lever sets in motion thedevices for opening the doors. In the ascent of the elevator-car throughthe elevator-way, the vertical bearing-plane T engages the roll end f ofthe upper primary lever, and retains it until the elevator reaches thepoint X, when said roll end of the upper primary lever passes aroundbeneath the lower curved end of the bearing-way, and rests against thelower horizontal plane; The gravity of the doors and the connecting-rodJ keeps the roll in contact with this plane in its upward movement, andthus allows the doors to close as fast as the elevator moves. In thedescending movement ofthe elevator, whenit arrives at the point W itcomes in contact with the roll end f of the upper primary lever anddepresses it to the point X. This movement raises the connecting-rod J,and with it the lower primary lever, G, which gives motion to thedoor-opening devices, as in the ascent of the elevator, and, having thusopened the doors, passes through, bringing the vertical plane of thebearing-way in contact with the lower primary lever, and thus holds thedoors open until the top of the elevator-car reaches the dotted lines V,where the roll end of said lower lever passes round the curved end andupon the upper horizontal plane,-and follows it down to the point U,thus allowing the doors to close, corresponding to the movement of theelevator.

The several connecting-rods are made adjustable to effect the exactarrival of the doors to their stationary points simultaneously, whilethe primary levers should be adjusted to give equal bearing upon thebearing-Way of the elevator. This is obtained by right and leftscrew-threads on the ends of the several connecting rods adapted to fitinto screwthreaded couplings h, and, when so adjusted, to be locked bymeans of lock-nuts i, as shown in Fig. 6.

If the elevator is arranged for a fast movement, the primary levers aremade of greater length than is required for a slow-moving elevator. Thequarter-ellipse form of the end curves of the bearing-way slows thefinal movement of the doors in opening, and allows the doors to commencetheir closing movement with a slower speed, and thereby maintain theproper contact of the roll ends of the primary levers with thebearing-way, and prevent the elevator from running away from them.

The doors are adapted for either a side or corner-post elevator, and theguideways are arranged in the frame-work in the usual manner.

The several dotted curves show the equal arcs described by all the partsindicated in the opening and closing movements of the doors.

The counterpoise is made adjustable upon its arm to efl'ect the perfectclosing of the doors.

The door-flaps are provided with notches, to allow the elevator-cable topass between them when closed.

In the operation of the primary levers it will be noticed that one ofthe horizontal planes acts first upon one of said levers to open thedoors, while the action of both of said levers upon the vertical planeholds the doors open, with the ends of said levers at the limit of theirmovement toward each other. The counterpoise balances the movements ofall the doors by positive connections The functions of the leading-rollsE and the supporting-rolls of the door-flaps are illustrated in Figs. 1,2, and 3. As in my said patent, Case B, the upper primary lever is soconnected by the rod M to the two-armed lever N as to form a safetyattachment, so that in the event of the accidental falling of theelevator-car from any cause this safety-point will give way and free theprimary lever from operating connection with the doors, and thus leavethe doors closed and arrest the falling of the elevator; but thisseverance can only occur by the sudden falling of the elevator, as thisconnection is not otherwise subject to any strain or force sufficient toendanger its separation under the working of the elevator. T

I claim 1. The mechanism for opening the doors, consisting of thepush-bars Z Z, connected with the primary levers by intermediate devicesand a counterpoise, arranged for operation below the hatchway.

' 2. In self-closing hatchways for elevators, the push-bars Z Z, hingedcentrally to the doors 0 O, and operated by rock-shafts y y, connectingwith the counterpoise and the operating-levers, substantially in themanner and for the purpose stated.

3. The separate push-bars Z Z, having the bends d, connected to thejoint of the foldingleaves 0 O and to the ends of separate elbowlevers cc, in combination with separate side shafts 51 y, the arms a a, theconnecting-rods P P, the intermediate arms I) e, and the rod M, makingthe connection of these several parts with the primary operating-levers,all constructed and adapted to allow the elbowlevers and the push-barsto fold against and over the hatchway-sills.

4. The rock-shafts y, arranged below the doors and outside of a verticalline drawn through their outside hinges, d, in combination with theelbow-levers 0 on said rockshafts and the push-bars connected with saiddoors, as stated.

5. The combination, with the primary levers connected by the rod J, asstated, of the rod M, the central two-armed lever N, the counterpoise S,the rock-shafts y y and their connections with said lever N, and thedoors, of two hinged leaves each, all constructed and adapted foroperation substantially as described.-

6. The push-bars Z Z, connected, arranged, and operated to stand betweenthe doors 0 G when folded vertically.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have aflixed my signature inthe presence of two witnesses.

JOHN M. VAN OSDEL- Witnesses:

A. E. H. J oHNsoN, J. W. HAMILTON J oHNsoN.

